Automatic web measuring and feeding device



1934. J. J. CAVAGNARO AUTOMATIC WEB MEASURING AND FEEDING DEVICE Filed Jan. 23, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR (/Zfir/ ffr/ua fla/w BY 0 w law ATTORNEY 1934- J. J. CAVAGNARO AUTOMATIC WEB MEASURING AND FEEDING DEVICE Filed Jan. 23, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY J mtrfi w a MW ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 2, 1934 UNETE SATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMATIC WEB MEASURING AND FEEDING DEVICE 22 Claims.

while another portion of the web is being held or operated upon, as, for example, operated upon by the platens of an embossing press. In this way practically the entire time interval for operation is available for creating the measuring movement of the web which is highly favorable for obtaining accurate measurement. When the part of the web being operated upon is released the feed is completed by automatically drawing 7 the web through the press or other device optake up the slack, a very short time interval sufficing for this movement.

A feature of the invention consists in providing between the feed roll and the operating in a positive manner, independent of the feed roll to perform the measuring function, while the take-up means on the other side of the op- I crating means serves no measuring function but 39 a only to advance the web until said measured slack is taken up. 7

Another feature of the invention consists in the provision of means for drawing the web through the operating means without engaging or marring the freshly finished surface of the web.

Another feature of the invention consists in provision of readily adjustable means for regulating the measured lengths of web to be fed.

forward, this adjustment serving. to compensate for varying conditions affecting the feeding, ineluding running speed, thickness, stretch and other characteristics of the web, the nature of the work done on same, etc. In the preferred form of the invention 1, provide a double. regulation or adjustment for this purpose, providing a relatively coarse or major adjustment which may be made as in getting ready for a run, and

a second finer adjustment which can preferably be manipulated when the apparatus is in operation or, at most, is only stopped momentarily while such close adjustment is being made.

The invention and further features and objects thereof will be best understood in connection with the following description of the illus crating thereon for the distance necessary to means a slack forming means which is operated.

trative embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings, and which is provided for the purpose of illustrating the principle of the invention and not for limitation of the invention.

In said drawings:----

Fig. l is a diagrammatic side view partly in section of a web feeding device of my invention at the stage where the measuring mechanism has just completed the slack forming measurement of the length of web to be fed, a stationary part 69 of the web being operated upon by a press or other operating means;

Fig. '2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but at the stage where the pulling through of the measured slack has just been completed, and the operat- 76 ing means, having been opened up during the feeding movement of the web, is about to be closed;

Fig. 3is an end elevation showing the invention applied to an embossing press of conventional 5 design; and

Fig. 4 is a part sectional detail view of the roller adjusting means.

The web W to be fed is mounted on a batchroll 10 which is kept from overriding by means of the brake 12. The rewindor take-up is on a batch roll 14 driven by means of a slipping belt 16 or the equivalent thereof.

Rollers 18, 20,22 and 24 are relatively stationary idler rollers over which the web W passes. Of these rollers 18, 20 and.-22, over which the web W passes between the feed roller 10 and the operating mechanism, here shown as a pair of press platens 'P. P'., serve to support the web W during the slack forming and measuring operation; and idler roller 24, located on the other side of the operating mechanism P, P and between sameand the take-up roller 14, serves to support the web by contact with its under (unfinished) sur,-- face during its travel from the operating means to the take-up roll 14.

The movable slack forming rollers 26 and 28 engage the upper side of the web between the supply roller 10 and the operating mechanism P, P. Web W is held against retraction either by the operating means P, P, or by the brake 30 in i engagement with the roller 22, or both. Brake 30 maybe dispensed with in case it is desired to rely entirely on the operating means as P, P for preventing retraction of the web during slack or loop formation thereof. With the parts in such relation, measuring rollers 26 and 28 unwind a portion of web W off from feed roll 10 and sweep the bights of web W downwardly between rollers 18 and 20 and between rollers 20 and 22, respecbe accurately regulated.

tively, as shown in Fig. l, the brake 32 being held out of engagement with stationary roller 18 during the downward movement of slack forming rollers 26 and 28 to permit the unwinding of the web from roll 10, and brought into engagement with roller 18 as such downward movement is completed. In this way the slack forming is done by positively actuated means and is independent of feed roll 10 which can continue to turn by inertia after forward movement of the unrolled part of web W is stopped by brake 32. Rollers 26 and 28 are later returned to the elevated position as indicated by the doubl -ended arrows in Fig. 1.

The slack available for web advancement having been formed as described and the press or other operating members P, P being separated to free the web W (and brake 30 if present being released) the web W is advanced, as by means of the spring roller 34 in engagement with the back of the web (thus avoiding injury of its freshly embossed surface) between the idler roller 24 and the spring roller 34, as indicated by the arrow on Fig. 2, whereupon the operating means can again function on the newly advanced portion of the web, and this step-by-step action is repeated indefinitely. It will be seen that the take-up roller 34 serves no measuring function in itself, but only to take up the previously measured slack until stopped by brake 32.

By adjustments in the roller system between the feed roll 10 and the operating means as P, P, the length of slack and therefore the amount the web is advanced on each feeding movement can I preferably secure such regulation by first providing a relatively coarse or rough adjustment which is obtained by varying the extent of movement of the movable rollers 26 and 2S, and. I preferably secure the second or .final, close micrometric adjustment by mounting the central idler roller 20 in such manner that it can be raised or lowered at will by very fine increments.

A sufficient understanding of the embossing press illustrated herein for showing one apparatus,

with which the web feeding means of my invention can be utilized, will be had from the following description of the apparatus shown in Figs. 3 and 4, it being understood that so far as useful the construction shown is duplicated at the further side of the press.

The movable platen P is herein shown as being actuated through the toggles 35 from the cams 36 on drive shaft 3'2. Spur gear 38 on shaft 37 meshes with a similar gear 39 to drive a second cam member 40.

The cam member 40 on shaft 42 actuates the brake shoes 30 and 32. Lever 44 which carries brake 32 is pivoted at 46 and has its end carrying roller 48 pressed by spring 50' against the periphery of cam member 40, comprising the radial part 52 engaged by roller 48 when brake 32 engages idler roller 18, and the raised radial part 54, which when engaged by roller 48 serves to retract brake shoe from engagement with roller follows the cam groove '72 in said cam member 46. The length of link 66 can be adjusted by a take-up connection as indicated at '74, and the pivotal connection of link 66 to the arms 62 is preferably made in a slot 76 whereby the leverage and the throw of slack making rollers 26 and 28 can be varied as desired.

One form of means for adjusting the roller 20 for accurately predetermining the length of slack formation is'shown in Fig. 4, in which the shaft '78 of roller 20 is provided with an offset or,

cranked portion 80 and the shaft 78 can be turned in its bearings 82 by means of a handwheel 84 (Fig. 3) actuating the worm 36, which worm engages with and produces a slow turning movement of the worm wheel 88, splined or otherwise rigidly secured to turn with the shaft '78. With this arran ement it will be plain that the roller 20 can be adjusted without interfering with the operation of the remaining portions of the mechanism.

The sensitive adjustment I have chosen to place at roller 20 may be placed at one of the other rollers, and at more than one roller if advisable. The number of rollers may be varied, etc.

The web advancing roller 34 is mounted on arms 90 which swing from pivot centers 92 and are actuated by helical springs 94 applied to the carrying arms 90. When the web is being held, as for example between the press platens P, P and the web wound relatively tightly on the slipdriven, take-up roll 14, the roller 34 is retracted to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 against the springs 94. Upon the opening of press platens P, P and/or brake 30 being released, the springs 94 quickly advance the roller 34 to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3 as slack web is provided by the measuring rolls 26 and 28 as they are rapidly returned to their elevated positions, thus expeditiously moving the web through the operating means to the extent permitted by the predetermined slack formation and the brake 32 which arrests the feeding movement or advance of the web; thus quickly presenting a new portion of the web to the operating means and permitting the press or other operating means to function thereon with minimum requirement of time for feeding.

In operating a press as illustrated herein to secure the benefits of the invention, the stroke of the measuring rollers 26, 28 having been arranged to control the length of slack formation to approximate correctness, after two or more strokes of the press have acted upon the web the machine is stopped and the web is examined to see whether the effects of successive strokes arethe correct distance apart. If they are too far apart too much slack has been measured off, and the roller 20 is slightly lowered. If they overlap or are too close together not enough slack has been provided, and the roller 20 is slightly raised. Once the roller 20 is properly adjusted for a particular run, the web will be fed accurately to the end and successive impressions of the press will be properly spaced along the web.

It will be seen that my invention aifordsmeans for roughly predetermining the amount of slack to be formed at each stroke as by controlling the I length of sweeping movement imparted to the movable measuring rollers, and that in addition to such coarse adjustment a very close, accurate, fine and sensitive predetermination of the slack to be advanced is secured by slightly raising or lowering one of the relatively stationary 7 feed rollers.

lac

The invention, in addition to securing substantially micrometrical accurate predetermination of the extent'of each step of feed advancement of the web, permits extremely rapid operation; the predetermined amount of slack being available before the separation of the member P, P, and the fee-ding of the web taking place rapidly as the measuringrollers 26, 28 move upwar thus consuming the Very minimum of time for non-productive feeding operations and the maximum time interval being available for the pressing or other productive operation, as well as for the performance of the slack forming operation for accurately measuring the extent of web advance.

While in order to give a clear understanding of the principles of the invention the same has been described herein in connection with an embossing press, it is to be understood that the invention is not so limited and can be made use of with devices of various kinds for operating upon a web; and that in its application to embossing presses I am not limited to the use of any particular form of press.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

l. The combination with means for performing an operation on a part of a web while sta tionary, of web feeding means comprising positively intermittently operated measured slack forming means on one side of the first-named means, and means independent of said measured slack forming means on the other side of said first named means for taking up said slack when the web is released.

2. The combination with means for performing an operation on a part of a Web While stationary, of web feeding means comprising adjustable slack forming means on one side of the first-named means adapted to regulate the length of web to be fed by forming a slack web portion of accurately predetermined length while the part of the web cooperating with said first-named means is stationary, and means, independent of said slack forming means, on the other side of said first named means, adapted to take up said slack when the web is released.

3. The combination with Web supply means and means for operating on the web, of means for forming a predetermined and uniformly measured length of slack in the web between the supply means and the operating means while that part of the web being operated on is stationary, means on the other side of the operating means for advancing the web to take up said slack when the web is free to move with respect to the operating means, and means for holding the web in fixed position at the feed end of the slack while the slack is being taken up. I

4. The combination with web supply means and .means for operating on the web, of means independent of the Web supply means for forming a predetermined and uniform length of slack in the web between the supply means and the operating means while that part of the web being operated on is stationary, means on the other side of the operating means for advancing the web to take up said slack when the web is free to move with respect to the operating means, and means for holding the web in fixed position at the feed end of the slack while the slack is being taken up. 5. The combination of web supply means and means for operating on a part of the web while stationary, of means for forming a slack in the web prior to reaching the operating means, and

a a brake independent of the supply means and applied to the web at the supply side of the slack web portion for holding that portion of the Web in fixed position, and means on the further side of the operating means for feeding the web forward by taking up said slack when the web is free to move with respect to the operating means.

6. The combination of a source of web supply and a we!) take-up of mechanism acting on the web after leaving the source of supply, comprising a web brake for holding that portion of the web in fixed position, a slackforming means, means for operating on the web, and means for advancing the web until stopped by the brake.

'1. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5, in which the slack forming means is adjustable to regulate the length of slack and so vary the feed.

8. The combination with means for perforr ing an operation on a part of a web while stationary, of automatic intermittent web feeding means, comprising means for advancing the web with respect to the operating means and means independent of the Web advancing means adapted for accurateiy and uniformly measuring by intermit ent strokes the length of web to be advanced by the advancing means. I.

9. The combination with means for performing an operation on a part of a web while stationary, of automatic intermittent web feeding means, comprising means for advancing the web with respect to the operating means and slack- 1 forming measuring means adapted independent of the web advancing means for accurately and uniformly measuring and producing by intermittent strokes slack lengths of web to be advanced by the advancing means. 1

1%). Apparatus of the class described, compri ing a feed roll for a web, means for operating on a part of the web while stationary, a take-up roll, relatively stationary idler rolls over which the web passes from the feed roll to the operat- 1 ing means, slack forming rolls under which the web passes and movable with respect to the idler rolls to form slack in the web while being operated on, a brake adapted to be applied to the web between the feed roll and said system of rollers 1 when the slack has been formed, and a spring roller under the web between the operating means and the take-up roll and adapted to advance the web through the operating means and take up the slack when that part of the web in the oper- 1 ating means is released.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 in which the sweep of the movable rollers is adjustable to produce major change in the length of slack produced and feed obtained.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 in which a stationary roller is adjustable to obtain closely accurate measuring of the slack formation and consequent feed.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 in which 1.

both the sweep of the movable rollers and position of a stationary roller are adjustable to produce major changes in length of slack formation together with closely accurate measuring of the slack formation and consequent feed. 1

14. The combination with means for performing an operation on a part of a web while stationary, of accurate web measuring means, means for intermittently fixedly holding the web portion so measured, said measuring and holding means 1 being located on one side of the operation performing means, and means on the other side thereof for advancing the web so measured.

15. The combination of a source of web supply and a web take-up of mechanisms acting on the 1 flit web after leaving the source of supply, comprising a web brake, a slack forming means having coarse and fine adjustments to give micrometric regulation of length of slack through an extended brakeand so vary thefeed correspondingly,means for operating the web, and means for advancing the web until stopped by the brake.

16. The combination with means for performing an operation on a part of a web, of means independent of said operating means adapted to pull a length of slack from the supply end of the web, means operating alternately with the first named means to hold a portion of the web in fixed position, and means on the other side of the operation performing means for taking up the slack when the web is so held.

17. A web feeding device comprising a supply, an independent reciprocating member for pulling a measured length of the web from said sup ply, a holding member for holding the web between the supply and the measured length, and means for advancing said measured length as said reciprocating member is returned.

18. The combination with a web supply, means for operating on a portion of a web while said portion is stationary, a web take-up, and means for forming a predetermined amount of slack between the web supply and the operating means, of a roller on a spring-urged pivoted arm between the operating means and the web takeup, said roller oscillating to take up the slack in the web when the operating means is open and to allow a substantially even and continuous reeling in of the web take-up.

19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 18 in which the web is not engaged between the operating means and the Web take-up on its face which has been operated on, and is engaged on its other face only by the oscillating roller.

20. The combination, with means for operating on a measured portion of a Web, of a web-feeding device comprising means, on one side of said operating means, for forming a measured length of slack web while the operating device is operating on a previously measured portion ofthe web, and means, independent of and remote from said slack forming means, for taking'up the exact amount of slack so formed while the operating device is not operating on the web.

21. The combination, with means for operating on a measured portion of a web, of a web-feeding device comprising means, on one side of said operating means, for forming a measured'length of slack web while the operating device is operating on a previously measured portion of the web, and means, independent of and remote from said slack forming means, for pulling the amount of slack so formed through the operating means to present such portion of the web to be acted upon, said pulling means acting while the operating device is not operating on the web.

22. The combination with web supply means and means for operating on a portion of the web, of means between said supply and operating means for accurately measuring off a predetermined length of said web while said operating means are functioning, means, remote and distinct from the slack measuring means, on the other side of the operating means for drawing the operated-upon portion of the web out of engagement with the operating means and drawing said measured length of web into operating relation therewith, and further means adapted to take up said operated-upon portion of the web when the subsequently measured portion thereof is being operated upon.

JOHN J. CAVAGNARO. 

